\\INTRODUCTION TO JOEL\\

In some Hebrew Bibles this prophecy is called "Sepher Joel", the Book
of Joel; in the Vulgate Latin version, the Prophecy of Joel; and in the
Syriac version, the Prophecy of the Prophet Joel; and the Arabic
version, the Prophet Joel; and so the Apostle Peter quotes him,
\\#Ac 2:16\\. His name, according to Hillerus {a}, signifies "the Lord is
God"; but others derive it from \^lay\^, which in "Hiphil" is \^lyawh\^,
and signifies "he willed, acquiesced, or is well pleased, so Abarbinei;
and hence Schmidt thinks it answers to Desiderius or Erasmus. According
to Isidorus {b}, he was born at Bethoron, in the tribe of Reuben, and
died and was buried there; and so says Pseudo-Epiphanius {c}. In what
age he lived is not easy to say. Aben Ezra expressly affirms there is
no way to know it; and so R. David Ganz {d} says, his time we know not;
and likewise Abarbinel. Some think he prophesied about the same time
Hoses did, after whom he is next placed; and so Mr. Whiston {e} and,
Mr. Bedford {f} make him to prophesy much about the same time with
Isaiah and Hoses, about eight hundred years before Christ; but, in the
Septuagint version, this book is in the fourth order, and not Hoses,
but Amos and Micah, are placed before him; and so the author of
Juchasin {g} puts the prophets in this order, first Hoses, then Amos,
next Isaiah, then Micah, and after him Joel. Some of the Jewish
writers, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abendana relate, make Joel contemporary
with Elisha, and say he prophesied in the, lays of Jehoram the son of
Ahab, when the seven years' famine called for came upon the land,
\\#2Ki 8:1\\. Both in Seder Olam Rabba and Zuta {h} he is placed in the
reign of Manasseh; and so in Hilchot Gedolot, as Jarchi observes. And
it seems indeed as if he prophesied after the ten tribes were carried
captive, which was in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign, since no
mention is made of Israel but with respect to future times, only of
Judah and Jerusalem, But, be it when it will that he prophesied, there
is no doubt to be made of the authenticity of this book, which is
confirmed by the quotations of two apostles out of two: Peter and Paul,
\\#Ac 2:16 Ro 10:13\\.

{a} Onomast. Sacr. p. 856.
{b} De Vita & Mart. Sanct. c. 4.
{c} De Vita Proph. c. 14.
{d} Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 14. 2.
{e} Chronological Tables, cent. 7. and 8.
{f} Scripture Chronology, B. 6. c. 2. p. 646.
{g} Fol. 12. 1, 2.
{h} P. 55, 105. Ed. Meyer.

\\INTRODUCTION TO JOEL 1\\

This chapter describes a dreadful calamity upon the people of the Jews,
by locusts and, caterpillars, and drought. After the title of the book,
\\#Joe 1:1\\; old men are called upon to observe this sore judgment to
their children, that it might be transmitted to the latest posterity,
as that the like to which had not been seen and heard of, \\#Joe 1:2-4\\;
and drunkards to awake and weep, because the vines were destroyed, and
no wine could be made for them, \\#Joe 1:5-7\\; and not only husbandmen and
vinedressers, but the priests of the Lord, are called to mourn, because
such destruction, was made in the fields and vineyards, that there were
no meat nor drink offering brought into the house of the Lord,
\\#Joe 1:8-13\\; wherefore a general and solemn fast is required throughout
the land, because of the distress of man and beast, \\#Joe 1:14-18\\; and
the chapter is concluded with the resolution of the prophet to cry unto
the Lord, on account of this calamity, \\#Joe 1:19,20\\.